The point of making it isn’t to get away from where you came from. It’s to make it easier for the next kid from there.

Success framed as escape leaves you in a permanent quarrel with your own background. Framed the other way, the same achievement turns useful: you know the route, you know what was missing, and you can hold a door open behind you. Nothing about leaving requires you to look down on where you left from. People who stay connected tend to be steadier about the whole thing.

Think of one thing that would have helped you at thirteen and that you could now give somebody who is thirteen. An introduction, a lift, a straight answer. Offer it once, locally, without making a speech.